How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster?

As the man behind Hong Kong’s HSBC tower, the Gherkin and the renovated Reichstag, to name just a few, Norman Foster is arguably the most influential architect of the past generation. This tribute, however, is an odd and not terribly satisfying film. The big screen makes a natural canvas for his grand-scale projects and the aerial views to which, as an amateur pilot, he is partial. But the format of the film – a chronological account of his career studded with praise from big-name artists and collaborators – feels more like a TV doc or even, given the mildly hagiographic tone, a corporate video. Foster comes across as remarkable and likeable figure, but there’s no compelling argument about how his work has shaped architecture as an industry or society as a whole. Glimpses of a planned project for a new model self-sustaining city in Abu Dhabi, however, are extraordinary.